Torak's Secret Cousin
by Buffy-Eureka123
Summary: Torak never bothered to gather information on Tenris, if he had children or any other family. Well he did and his child is right under his nose... (Torak, Wolf and Renn won't be in till half way through. Bale and Tenris are the characters involved in the story.)
1. Lonely

_**Hi, I really hope you like my story. I know it is short but I'm working on it! xxx**_

Saret woke a fire and pulled her seal hide coat closer to her. It was late at night but she couldn't sleep. Her ears seemed to be more alert than ever, she heard birds claws clink as they landed on the trees and the trout splashing as their tales hit the surface. Why was she so awake?

Yesterday she'd woke up early, just before light, washed in the sacred fountain and eaten some trout that she'd caught the evening before. She'd set snares and even made a stew out of garlic, potatoes and some lemmings she'd stumbled upon when she was chopping down a young sapling to build her shelter. The rest of her clan were out hunting so she'd decided to stick around.

There was a young seal clan boy out skin boating by the lake. Skin boating is where you build the ribs out of wood to support the main structure, like our ribs, then you cover it in animal skin and make it waterproof, you then check for cracks or ripped skin and you're off. The boy was about sixteen summers old and quite handsome. His fair hair was tied up with coral shells and he wore an amulet round his neck. His clan tattoos shone in the moon light as he turned around. His clan tattoos were like blue waves dancing down his arms and his clan creature fur was invisible against his jerkin.

She hadn't seen him for the rest of that day but she wished she would, her clan had met a eagle owl scout party and were staying in there shelters on the opposite shore for the night. She was so alone. Saret pushed her brown hair behind her ears and walked over to the edge of the lake. She stared at her name soul in the lake. Her eyes sparkled against the water and her clan tattoos looked like stars on her cheeks. They were white smudges under her eyes, there were just three of them in a line. She brushed her hands over them and smiled.

She saw a shadow move behind her in the water. She drew her knife and turned. There sitting by the fire was a boy, he was shadowed in the moon light but she recognised the muscle on his arms as well as his tattoo. "You can put that knife away now," He said, "I won't hurt you, trust me." And for some reason she did. She looked about and saw his skin boat upturned and drying by her shelter. "What's your name," He asked her. "S... Saret, Saret of White Wolf clan," Saret said to him. "What's yours?" He stood up and walked towards her and gave her some willow grouse he'd been roasting at her fire. "Bale," He said, "Bale of Seal Clan."

They sat by the fire all night talking. Saret told him where the clan were and asked him his rank in his clan. He'd told her: "I don't really have one, but I'm told I'm the best skin boater on the island, how about you?" He smiled at her and she touched her clan creature skin for some reason, she just felt she needed to. "Well..." Saret said, "I'm kind of the White Wolf clan leader."


	2. The Law

_**Thanks for the nice comments!**_

Chapter 2

"Your the clan leader?" Bale said. True Saret didn't look like a clan leader, she was one of the youngest in her clan and not the strongest. "Yes, yes I am," she said, "but who cares right?" For one Bale didn't. "So where is the rest of the clan, there must be about thirty more people somewhere," he said.

"No actually nineteen others and they're all out hunting, they met some sea eagles on their way back so they're staying the night." Saret told him.

They chatted all night and roasted some willow grouse.

Bale woke in the morning to find a knife digging into his back. He sat up in alarm making Saret- who had, had her head resting against his shoulder- fall backwards.

When he turned around he saw a man about seventeen summers old stare down at him. He had the same tattoos as Saret which made him a White Wolf.

"Stand up," the man instructed to Bale, and he did. "Bri, put the knife down." Saret told him firmly. "Saret, he's an intruder and with that new law the Seal mage put in he can't be trusted," Bri said. His hair was a light brown and his eyes just the same.

"He's safe and wait what law?" Saret inquired.

"The law stating that Seals and White Wolves can't talk to each other or go inside one another's borders." Now it was Bale's turn to speak.

Bale was shocked that she didn't know but he was pre-occupied by his mage Tenris calling his name...


	3. The Amulet

Chapter 3

"Yes?" Bale said as he walked up to Tenris. Tenris just stared till Bale came with in an arms width and slapped him.

"What the hell were you thinking, talking and eating with that filthy White Wolf," Tenris yelled. He didn't have the best temper and when it came to Saret he didn't have any.

"She was all alone and I was bored," Bale said. And besides, he thought, a chance to disobey Islinn only comes once every so often.

"Just leave them alone, now go to the fountain and wash up, I don't even want to touch you." Then he shooed Bale out of his shelter and he set off for the fountain.

Saret was there as well.

"Hey," She said.

"Hey," Bale replied.

Saret put her hand to his cheek and he moved it away, "What happened?" She asked, suddenly concerned.

"Oh you know, my self obsessed impatient mage," Bale laughed and Saret joined in, if he wasn't bothered why should she be.

They stopped laughing and Saret touched the amulet round her neck. "What is that?" Bale asked. The amulet was a small shiny diamond with a spiral engraved on the front and back. Bale stared at it then up into Saret's fiery green eyes and thought she looked beautiful.

"Oh this," Saret said, breaking the moment. "Well my Fa gave it to me when I was born, my mother said he got it from the mountains and mixed it with the sea..." She pointed to the waves dancing along the sides, "and he burnt it in a mages fire just before giving it to me."

Saret gave a faint smile. "So your fa must have been a great guy," Bale said. Saret's smile faded and it changed to pain. "That was the only thing that resembled his former self," She said and then she added: "I never liked him."

Saret stared at the amulet and all of a sudden a memory emerged that had been hidden long ago, it was her father talking to a woman with a tongue like a viper and a man who could of snapped a grown man's spine with a single strike, they'd been talking about her as her mother cradled her in her arms, 'can't we turn her into a tokoroth?' The woman had said. 'No' It was her father talking, 'if we are ever to find away to stop the prophecy then we need her whole.' The big man smirked and slapped her father on the back.

'You're just saying that because you love her!' Then he laughed.

'No!' A woman snapped from behind them. 'We need her whole because she is our closest link to finding the spirit walker!' The woman's eyes were hollow and her breath was stale. She looked like she was dead, but yet she couldn't of been... Saret's father nodded to her mother and she'd given Saret the amulet and told her a story to it, but behind to laughs there was pain...


	4. Catching Up

Chapter 4

After the arrival of the rest of the White Wolf clan Saret and Bale had to be more secretive about there visit's. They mostly met at the fountain because it isn't owned my either White Wolf or Seal. Walking up the path Saret noticed Bale and his friends, Asrif and Detlan, take a boy to Islinn then come running up to her for a brief hello.

"Who's that?" Saret asked as Bale was reaching the final steps, he was wet from a trip in his skin boat but he was also muddy, and angry. "Oh, just some idiot who mixed the forest with the sea." Bale told her. Saret roled her eyes and touched Bale's shoulder. "Don't be to hard on him Bale, you know how they are," but inside Saret felt angry. What was so wrong with mixing forest with sea? The sea mother wouldn't be angry with this boy, would she?

After Bale left she put a lock of hair on the fountain and prayed to her guardian to keep this forest boy safe, she also prayed that Bale wouldn't make Islinn put him on the rock. She had also had a dream the previous night. Saret had talked to her mage, Joj, about it and she'd said that it was complicated but her mage had also gone pale.

In her dream this boy caused the death of Tenris, the crippling of Detlan and the most horrifying of all the brutal death of Bale.

"Never again," Saret grumbled, as she ate her tea, "never ever let Janman cook, again." Saret looked around before taking the bone out of her mouth. _Yum. _She thought. Standing up she walked to the tent entrance.

"Where do you think you're going?" Bri asked her as she headed up to the fountain, "are you by any chance meeting that seal boy?"

Saret swore under her breath before troding off like she'd heard nothing, she didn't think of Bale as just some seal boy, not any more, he was more like her partner. But since the arrival of that boy they'd been drifting apart, and not for the better.


	5. Love

Chapter 5

Walking to the fountain Saret had time to think, if her dream meant anything then should she tell Tenris, but she couldn't, not yet anyway.

"Hey," Bale sighed, as Saret reached him.

"Hey," Saret replied back, "how's that boy?"

"He's insane, talking about some illness that will kill us all," He smiled weakly, "but what kept me going was the thought of seeing you tonight,"

The knot is Saret's stomach tightened...

"Look Bale, if I were you I'd have nothing to do with him, couldn't you just let him go?" Saret prayed that he would listen to her, because maybe his life depended on it.

He looked at her, she tried to avoid eye contact but it wasn't good enough. He saw.

"What aren't you telling me?" He asked, eye brows raised.

She thought for a moment then she said, "Nothing, just a dream I had." And for a second she thought her was going to ask more but he didn't her just took her hand and took her to a stream that lead directly into forbidden forest, home of the hunters. And they sat there with their bare feet in the cool sparkling water and stared into each others eyes.  
Saret thought he looked amazing, this was the boy who she'd seen gliding by on a skin boat one night, this was the boy who she'd secretly visited everyday and she'd be damned is she was going to let this boy die.

"Don't do anything stupid," Saret said, "please." He took her hand and smiled,

"Now why would I?" Bale said and then he pulled her into the water. Bursting to the surface, Saret wiped back her hair and smiled at him. Then he swam up to her and kissed her on the lips. They were warm in the cold water and soft like a petal. So she kissed back. That's when they saw a hunter move under them, they looked about startled but then Bale just grabbed Saret with one hand and the hunters fin with another and they were flying through the waves till they reached the passage that lead into the forbidden forest.

_**All your comments are appreciated and I would like some opinions on how to change it!**_


	6. Forest

Chapter 6

There was a silence in the air in the forest, as if no noise dared enter. All Bale could hear was the lapping of the waves as he stared at Saret. She gave a nevous grin and gently swam upto a small peice of land in the centre of the tiny place. It had a statue on it, it was broken and weeds had since grown over it but you could still make out the shape of a hunter, tall and strong.

Saret pulled herself up and started to ring out her hair, Bale couldn't resist it. He got up on the platform and kissed her again, this time Saret wasn't to suprised. "Bale," she whispered, "why?"

He pulled back and looked at her with embarassment on his face. "I thought, maybe..." And then she kissed him.

"I mean why did you wait so long," she said, and they smiled, then laughed till the forest was filled with the sound of laughter and enjoyment.

After a minute or two Bale grabbed her hand, she could see his cold breath in the air. "I love you." He said, "ever since I first saw you all those weeks ago, I love you Saret."

And then Saret began to cry. It wasn't much more than a tear or two. Bale wiped the back of his hand over her cheek and the tears flew into the water, making ripples dance in the night. "I love you to."

Saret's brown hair lay notted on her shoulder, while Bale's blonde hair was tied up in coral shells. His blue eyes and her hazel eyes were locked together. Her skin shone in the moon light that escaped through the branches. They were completely enclosed, nobody could see them now. They weren't White wolf and Seal in this forest, they were two lovers whose love was forbidden in the out side world but in here, they could be anything they wanted.


	7. New Tatoos

Chapter 7

Bale woke up to the sound of birds, he had mud in his hair and he was lying on grass, but he wasn't alone. He took a few seconds just to look at Saret while she slept peacefully with her head on his chest. Then he carefully put his shirt where he head was and got out from underneath her, giving her a little bit more sleep. Bale stretched and yawned before standing to get a better look at the statue. But getting a better look he noticed something behind one of the weeds, it was a tiny box. He carefully unhooked it and held the old wood in his hands. It had two symbols on the front, one was his clans tattoo and the other was Saret's. The box was old and beautiful, he wondered what was inside. He was just about to open it when Saret yawned and opened her weary eyes. "Hi," she said smiling.

"Hey," Bale said back. He then looked back down at the box before helping Saret up, "here, what do you make of this?"

Saret squinted in the morning sun before telling Bale a story. "In my clan," she began, "we have a legend, it says that along time ago a man called Symto from the White wolf clan met a young woman called Isal, from Seal clan. He loved her very much but her mate Xanzus forbid Symto to speak to her."

"Oh I've heard of Xanzus, he was the Seal clan leader that divided the two clans in the first place." And Saret nodded her head as if to approve.

"Now Xanzus was a mighty man, and his order stretched far past our islands and even to the lost Wolf clan. Now Isal didn't love Xanzus, at birth she had been told that she would become his mate. So when Symto found out that Isal was despirate for a chance to escape he came to her in the dead of night and took her here to this forest, and some say this box contains there ashes."

"Ashes?" Bale asked confused.

"When Xanzus found out about what Isal and Symto did while in here, some say, he had Isal watch as he burnt Symto but Isal jumped in after him so they could die together."

Bale had gone pale, was he regreting kissing her? Saret thougt.

"Some say?" Bale commented, "but what do you say?"

Saret paused before answering, "But another idea is that, that box contains equiptment for giving someone tattoo," And then Bale had an idea and he opened the box. Saret closed her eyes and covered them with her hands. When Bale didn't say anything she peaked out of her fingers to see a needle and a bunch of different coloured leaves.

Bale grabbed the needle and mixed the leaves with the water round them and then Saret new exactly what he was doing. "Bale I..." And then she choked back on tears.

Touching her leg he kissed her. The pin was cold and sharp on Saret's leg but she trusted Bale.

Her legs were red and sore but she could see the tattoo's he made. They were seal clan.


End file.
